Chair-leg supporter.



W. M. CRAIG.

CHAIR LEG SUPPORTER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.31, 1910.

Patented Oct. 10, 1911.

UNITE srarns rA'rnnT OFFIGE.

WILLIAM MARSHALL CRAIG, OF MARION, OHIO.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WVILLIAM MARSHALL CRAIG, a citizen of the United States, residing at Marion, in the county of Marion and State of Ohio, have invented new and useful Improvements in Chair-Leg Supporters, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in joints for furniture or other wooden structure, and the object of the invention is to provide secure attachments of parts of furniture and the like, such as, for instance, the attachment of rails or cross bars for the legs of a chair, the legs of the chair to the rockers thereof without the necessity of gluing or nailing, and the invention contemplates the novel construction of a securing device hereinafter fully set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings there has been illustrated a simple and preferred embodiment of the improvement, and in which drawings,

Figure 1 is a side elevation partly in section showing the manner of attaching the round to a chair leg. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a round provided with the improvement. Fig. 3 is a view of the blank.

Referring to the accompanying drawings I have illustrated the application of a joint connection for use in connecting the rounds of a chair with one of the legs thereof. But it is understood that the device may be employed for use in connect-ion with all kinds of similar joint work, wherein one member is provided with a socket or recess and another member has its end inserted in a socket or recess.

In the accompanying drawings 1 denotes a member or leg having a socket 2 formed therein for the reception of the reduced end 4 of the chair round 3, which end is adapted to be inserted in a socket and to fit snugly against the wall thereof.

In the ordinary construction of furniture joints the socketed member and the inserted member are secured by glue or other adhesive substance and the parts are sometimes held together under pressure while the glue or adhesive substance sets. In practice such joints soon become loosened with the result that the furniture becomes unstable and is soon discarded. Moreover in many districts, especially where natural gas is used glue soon deteriorates and the joints held together by glue soon fail to perform their functions. Many devices have been Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 31, 1910.

CHAIR-LEG SUPPORTER.

Patented Oct. 10, 1911. Serial No. 552,570.

tried as substitutes for glue and such adhesive substances as are employed in connecting the legs and rounds of furniture and similar joints, but none have been widely adopted. r

The present invention is designed to provide a ready and eflicient means for connecting the inserted end of the chair round or member with the wall of the socket of the chair leg or other member connected therewith and is embodied in a device preferably stamped out of sheet metal of sufficient durability to resist the strains usually placed upon chair legs. This device con sists of a body portion 5 having four arms designated by the numerals 6 and 7 respectively, which are disposed at substantially right angles to each other. The arms 6 are preferably formed with a sharp taper so as to present a substantially V-shaped appearance and the end edges thereof are preferably sharpened, while the arms 7 are formed with but a slight taper so that their terminals are broader, thereby forming good bearing surfaces, and the end edges of said arms 7 sharpened as shown in perspective in Fig. 2.

The central portion of the body 5 is formed with an opening 9 through which a small pin can be passed for holding said central portion to the end of the round 3. In the end wall of a socket 2 a circular metallic member 11 is disposed. In attaching the device to the end of a chair round the central portion of the body 5 is placed flush against the end of the chair round and the arms 6 are bent against the opposite sides or surface of the chair round and their terminals deflected inwardly and then forced into the chair round, as shown in Fig. 2. 5 The arms 7 are then bent to assume positions substantially parallel to the round 3 so that they can be readily inserted in the socket 2. After the device has been arranged in this manner on the end of the chair round the reduced end of the round is inserted in the socket 2 and pressure exerted thereon so as to bring the terminals 8 of the arm 7 against the circular plate or disk 11. By maintaining pressure on the round the arms 7 are forced outwardly into the side wall of the socket 2 as shown in section in Fig. 1. The arms 7 are bent on the body 5 so that the longitudinally extending portions thereof do not project laterally of the surface of the round and consequently will not resist the passage of the round into the socket.

After the round has been secured in place on the chair leg and it is desired, for any purpose such as for renewal, to replace the same, the inwardly directed terminals 10 of the arms 6 can be forced out of engagement with the round 3 to permit of the removal of the round from the socket.

It is to be observed that the locking device consists of a single piece of metal and the wall of the socket 2, tends to hold the round engaging arms 6 in snug engagement with the round while the terminals of the leg engaging arms 7 are adapted to lock the round against longitudinal movement.

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new is a 1. In a joint construction, the combination with a member having a socket and a member having an end adapted to be inserted in the socket and snugly engage the wall of said socket, a locking device having arms adapted to engage the opposite surfaces of the end and having their terminals embedded in said end and provided with arms adapted to be disposed longitudinally of the end and extend outwardly thereof and means for deflecting the last arms into the wall of the socket.

2. In combination, a chair leg having a socket therein, a metallic plate disposed in the socket and bearing against the end wall thereof, a round having an end adapted to be inserted in the socket and snugly engage the wall thereof; and a locking device for connecting the round to the leg consisting of a body portion having arms bent against the sides of the round and their terminals inserted in said sides and having arms adapted to be disposed in longitudinal endwise relation to the round and adapted to be inserted in the socket and be deflected into the wall of said socket by the metallic plate in said socket.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM MARSHALL CRAIG.

WVitnesses JOHN H. CLARK,

C. W. SMITH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

